Khissaiyia (left) on the campus of Notre Dame

Early in July, one of our students Khissaiyia S. who wants to become a lawyer had an opportunity to go to the campus of Notre Dame to take a law class for college credit. Khissaiyia will be a high school junior in the fall.

She says the entire experience pushed her out of her comfort zone, especially since there were a total of 450 students.

“I personally don’t like big groups or doing things with a lot of people,” Khissaiyia said. “But we would have activities every night where everybody in the program had to compete in them and it was really fun. And it gave me a little taste of competition since I wasn’t here [at StreetSquash].”

Khissaiyia spent two weeks on campus and each day had a packed schedule. She says she was awake at 7:30 a.m. and would be out until 11 p.m. or midnight. Eight of those hours were spent in classes related to constitutional and criminal law.

“It was a good experience,” Khissaiyia said. “It pushed me emotionally, academically. It was challenging and an environment that allowed a lot of room for growth.

At the end of the course, students had to complete an oral argument. She says doing that confirmed her passion for wanting to become a lawyer.

“Especially when we were doing our oral arguments, we were in a courtroom,” Khissaiyia said. “And it just made me realize why I want to be a lawyer.” 

Her group also took a trip to Chicago where they went to the Holocaust museum. 

Although Khissaiyia was overwhelmed at first with all the new people, she made a lot of new friends.

“We had sections in our dorm and my whole section has a group chat and we all text everyday,” Khissaiyia said.